Open Data Visualization Developer's Basic Framework

Background:

There is a vast amount of data that governments around the world have made freely available to the public. Users can access, search, download, and perform many other tasks with this data, usually without restriction. This has created a significant opportunity for developers to create applications that make use of open data, often via JavaScript programs. To aid in this effort, libraries such as D3 have been developed to make it easier to present this data in visual format, such as charts and graphs. Unfortunately, these tools usual require a significant learning curve to use proficiently. And they are often somewhat limited in functionality, leaving many tasks up to the developer to complete

Technology Overview:

This technology is a framework that significantly simplifies the creation of data visualization applications. By using this framework, web developers can focus on how they want to present the data to users, without having to spend the time and effort required to become expert in JavaScript or D3 programming libraries. The framework simplifies many tasks that developers would otherwise have to perform programmatically. It is also flexible enough to be customized to the requirements of specific applications and users. Programs developed with this tool can enable users to quickly scan visualizations and hone in on data in which they are interested, without having to wade through potentially irrelevant information.

Advantages:

- Simple to follow: This tutorial does not require proficiency with web technologies such as D3 or JavaScript.
- More complete solution: Other tools are primarily libraries that lack robust features, leaving many tasks up to the programmer to solve.
- Flexible: The framework can be easily customized to your requirements.
- Focus on visualizing government-provided open data, a key skill for a number of different applications.

Applications:

The primary application for this framework is to teach web programmers how to create visualizations from open data. This skill is valuable in a broad spectrum of different data-driven applications.

Intellectual Property Summary:

Copyright

Stage of Development:

TRL 9 - Actual system proven in operational environment.

Licensing Status:

This technology is available for licensing.

Licensing Potential:

This technology could be licensed to educational institutions, software development companies, or individual web developers.